The group was formed by newcomer Faarooq in and remained an influencing faction in the company. The group was based loosely on the Nation of Islam and street gang lifestyle with group members adopting Islamic names and wearing Muslim headgear and the Black Panther Party.
The extremism of the group's pro-black theme β often including the "Nation Salute" and Faarooq's angry tirades on the microphone β garnered them an excessive amount of heat from fans in arenas. Ross noted the duo would appear on WWF Livewire that Saturday with "big changes" in store for Faarooq, meaning the dropping of his "Roman gladiator" gimmick.
The two men were also accompanied by three actors, Albert Armstrong, Charles Hines, and Richard Beach, whose names were unacknowledged on screen and were supposed to represent other members of the Nation. Faarooq lost by disqualification after Crush interfered and attacked Johnson. Faarooq, Crush, and Vega were the members of Nation of Domination who wrestled while others supported them during their matches.
Johnson defeated Crush and Vega in the Gauntlet before losing to Faarooq. He was replaced by Rocky Maivia. This led to a WWF style "gang war". In the closing minutes of the match, Austin performed a Stone Cold Stunner on the referee. A second referee came down to count a pin for Austin, although the first referee intended to disqualify Austin.
As a result of this controversy, [ 13 ] Austin was forced to defend the title against The Rock the next night on Raw Is War. Rock was awarded the Intercontinental Championship, however, after Austin forfeited him the title instead of defending the title in a rematch, delivering a stunner on Rock and took the championship belt back afterward.
